Talking Pints: Stumble Inn Anniversary, Bar 19, Lounge Bar and Nanluogu Xiang Manhunt
The Stumble Inn celebrates its first anniversary all weekend (Aug 19-21), with live music from the Beijing Beatles tonight (Friday). There’ll also be a ’60s/’70s-themed costume contest and dance-off on Friday night. There’s an RMB 50 cover charge on Friday, with proceeds going to this charity. There’s more live music to come, with Black Cat Bone (Saturday) and, Nearby the Tree and Nashville regular Chris playing on Sunday.
If you’re over on the west side of town, Bar 19 in the Tangla Hotel is having its launch party tonight (Aug 19), from 7.30-10pm. Back on the east, Funk Fever are at Migas (free, 9pm) and DJ Wordy hosts the latest Hot Pot at Punk (RMB 50 after 11pm).
On to Saturday night, and a new bar called Lounge Bar is set to open on Sanlitun Nanlu. We hope they've put more effort into the bar than they did with the name. Elsewhere, Verbal and Mademoiselle Yulia bring rap, electro and more to the floor at Yugong Yishan (RMB 150, 9pm). There’s also a little launch party going down for an exciting new venue, but I’m sworn to secrecy on that for now. Tell you more later.
Slightly off topic (ie. Beijing), hip-hop DJs get their shot at fame tomorrow with the China finals of the World DMC Championship taking place in Shanghai on Saturday (Sep 20). DJ Wordy protégé DJ Jamming is just one of those representing Beijing.
Early warning on a massive weekend to look forward to next week (Aug 26-27). The big event is the August 26 reopening of Lantern in a basement behind Xuxian Lou at Gongti West Gate, but a new coalition of Beijing crews also puts on its first party at Tango on August 27, with dance duo Andhim over from Germany and Mickey Zhang, Donald Summer and Donmy Liu supporting. Also creating some excitement is the visit of Ministry of Sound DJ Phil Drummond, who plays Xiu on August 27.
Centro is set to unveil its new look towards the end of September. We’re told you’ll still recognize it as Centro, but there’ll be a new outdoor terrace, a refreshed look courtesy of some input from award-winning industrial designer Tom Dixon. There’ll also be a new drinks list featuring cocktails created by Centro’s bartenders and the drinks created by the winners of Centro’s recent cocktail-naming contest. As well as Centro’s relaunch, the Kerry Centre will be launching two new dining outlets. Kerry’s Kitchen will be open for buffet dining at breakfast and lunch, then a la carte in the evening, with an open kitchen design from Super Potato, whose Beijing credits also include Made in China and IFW. Meanwhile, Kerry’s Pantry will be a deli offering sandwiches, freshly baked bread, cakes and more.
Any of you who missed the Beijinger Beer Festival last month have got another chance to drink beer in the shadow of the Fragrant Hills as Villa Castanea presents its own beer festival, starting next week. They’ll have free-flow German beer and barbecue every evening from August 26 until September 24, which will set you back RMB 488+15 percent service charge.
And finally, a manhunt is on for the scumbag who thieved a laptop’s worth of blogging from our bitter rival, Beijing Boyce. The crime took place in 12SQM as Boyce was chewing the fat with owner Joseph Kornides, with the felon snatching the laptop and fleeing on a scooter. We believe Kornides when says this is the first time anything like this has happened in his bar (which celebrates its fourth anniversary with RMB 20 Australian craft beers on September 3). It’s been suggested that the Beijinger may even have organized the theft to put the brakes on Boyce’s prolific reportage of Beijing’s bar scene – we deny all responsibility. In all seriousness, though, if you know this man, shop him immediately – or contact Boyce at beijingboyce@yahoo.com and he’ll get his hitmen to sort him out. I don't know what this town is coming to.
